At the bottom of this page are a few reviews on some new books and some old childrens' books - all good ripping yarns. You can see any of the books on this page by visiting the 'Vitual Library'.
OUR SEAMARKS by E. Price Edwards; 1884.
A very difficult book to get hold of but a real interesting insight into the history of U.K. lighthouses only. It has nice illustrations and a good list of lights in the appendix.
LIGHTHOUSES AND LIGHTSHIPS by W. H. Davenport Adams; 1875.
Compared to the above book this is relatively common and numerous reprints were made so you are likely to find a copy of this. This one is not restricted to the UK and again is a good history accompanied by illustrations with a UK list of lights in the appendix.
LIGHTHOUSES; THEIR HISTORY AND ROMANCE by W. J. Hardy; 1895.
This is disappointing in so much that whilst it talks about world lighthouses in general and describes some in detail, there is not enough about UK lighthouses for me. The illustrations are good but there is no interesting appendix of lights. Quite easy to get hold of and relatively inexpensive.
BRITISH LIGHTHOUSES; THEIR HISTORY AND ROMANCE by J. Saxby Wryde; 1913.
No prizes for guessing where he got his title from. However this is another gem which is difficult to find and expensive at that. It deals with the U.K. and is the first book to print good quality photographs and numerous appendices with facts and figures of earlier lighthouses.
LIGHTHSHIPS AND LIGHTHOUSES by Frederick Talbot; 1913.
This book covers worldwide lighthouses, but does pay attention to the U.K. ones. It is not too expensive and can still be easily obtained.
BRITISH LIGHTHOUSES by J.P.Bowen; 1947.
A nice easy to read book with good quality photographs and just as easy to get hold of a copy at a fair price.
LIGHTHOUSE AND LIGHTSHIP by Godfrey Phillips; 1949.
Another easy to read book dealing with English lights and Trinity House. Plenty of photographs; it can still be found on the shelves of secondhand book shops and is not expensive.
LIGHTHOUSES OF ENGLAND AND WALES by Derrick Jackson; 1975.
This is a very good, reasonably priced and easy to get hold of book. It is very comprehensive in covering the lighthouses that the above books omit and is illustrated throughout but there are no photographs. A must for the enthusiast buying their first reference book.
There are probably another 60 books that I could recommend; some on UK Lighthouses only; others on lighthouses in general with chapters dedicated to UK lighthouses. There are lots of books which deal with specific lighthouses only; some that deal with the lives of the engineers who designed and built the lighthouses,some that deal with the Trinity House service; and others which covers the points that others forgot.
Have you thought of looking through charity book shops to find yourself a good old fashioned read ?.Then try reading 'The Pillar of Light' by Louis Tracy; 1905; published by Ward Lock & Co. Or Saved at Sea; A Lighthouse Story by Mrs O.F. Walton, 1887, published by The Religious Tract Society. Or maybe you would like to read a true Victorian autobiography of sailing on the east coast. Then try reading Coastwise, Cross Seas.
One prolific writer was the Reverend Edward Rand who, in the 1890s, wrote three moralistic and religious novels, namely 'At The Black Rocks'; 'A Candle in the Sea'; and 'Margie and the Harbour Light'. His description of lighthouses indicates the vast amount of research that he undertook and his books are designed to educate as well as preach.
If you want something a little newer, say about 1940 then try The Secret of the Old Lighthouse by John G Rowe. In my estimation this is a fore runner of the James Bond stories.
You can, of course, read a new book. I have just finished reading 'Stargazing; Memoirs of A Young Lighthouse Keeper'. I first heard excerpts of this new publication read daily on BBC Radio 4, and was so impressed that I bought the book. It is the autobiography of Peter Hill when he was a student in 1973 and applied for a holiday post with the Northern Lighthouse Board where he records his time spent on lighthouses in remote Scotland. It is very amusing and I recommend it to you.
Another newly published book worth reading is 'England and Wales in a Flash' written by father and son team Adam and Roger Colton. The intrepid pair visit 153 lighthouses and just as many pubs on their crawl around England and Wales. You can read an excerpt from Chapter 2 on their web site (click 'Web Links' at the bottom of this page for details) or read my review of it now. I bought a copy and could not put in down.